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I’m extremely frustrated. I have a aussiedoodle (4 years old) who has been the BEST sleeper at night - sleeps through the night, likes to wake up late, will let me know explicitly if he has to use the washroom in the middle of the night.

The last few weeks, at night he will not settle. He sleeps with me in my room and my sisters room (depending on our schedules the next day). When he’s with me lately, he is constantly walking around the room. When I have him up on the bed, he stays for no longer than 10 min and then jumps off, walks around, and comes to whine at my side. This is a continuous cycle ALL. NIGHT. I don’t know what’s going on with him. He has never done this before. I made sure to tire him out a lot before bed tonight but the saga continued from the moment I closed my eyes.

I’m at a loss… not sure what to do. I’m tired and have work in the morning. He is usually such a great dog at night, I never complained about him, I would brag about his sleeping patterns to friends and family. Now… I don’t know if he’s going through a phase, maybe it’s the full moon lol or weather change into fall? Any insight is much appreciated:)

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When was his last vet checkup? Sudden behavior changes like this can be a sign that the dog has some medical problem, but the problem is not severe enough that he changes his behavior at day (like refusing to play). But when it's time to settle down, his symptoms (like pain, nausea or other discomfort) won't let him sleep. Unfortunately he cannot tell you what exactly is wrong, so whining at you is the best he can do.

Typical candidates for medical problems are:

  • Urinary tract infections or stones (check if he urinates more often than usual, urinates in inappropriate places or squats down without urinating).
  • Ear mites or ear infections (check his ears for black dirt).
  • digestive tract infection (check how much and how enthusiastically he eats, check for diarrhea).
  • Nerve damage in the paws. This happens when dogs pull on their collars. The nerve damage causes a tingling sensation and the dog may start walking around to alleviate the tingling. Switch to a harness instead of a collar).

In general, you should schedule a vet checkup, report the changed behavior to the vet and let them figure out if anything is wrong. This may include lab analyses of blood and urine.

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I took him to the vet and turns out his allergies are still really bad. Where I live we haven’t had a good frost yet and the pollen is still in the grass. Poor guy is super itchy. The nights have gotten a bit better with him - we just have to wait it out and hope for a frost to happen soon.

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